Queries, such as Structured Query Language (SQL) queries can be a powerful tool for obtaining information. However, such queries cannot presently be performed and their results returned in computer input fields which are designated for text entry. For example, often a user may be typing text in a text-input field (in HTML parlance—a<textarea> or a <input type=“text” I>, when a situation arises in which additional information is required in order to complete the text entry. For example, a user may be responding to an instant message from another user who asks: “Which places in Spain did you visit last year?” In preparing a response, the user must either try to recall the places in Spain that the user visited by memory, or perform a separate search of information—perhaps information stored elsewhere on the user's computer—before responding with, “Last year in Spain I visited Seville, Mallorca, Barcelona, Madrid, Malaga, Marbella, Granada and Cordoba.”
So, even if the user is able to recall the places specifically, completing this text entry takes a considerable amount of typing and memory. And, if the user does not recall the answer to her friend's question, she will be forced to leave the text-input field, and likely leave the instant messaging application altogether to perform a separate search. Then, any such search results are likely to be returned in a fashion which may not readily lend itself to the text input window, or which at a minimum must undergo several additional operations to return them to the text-input field in which the user desires to include the information reflecting the search results in her text response.
Therefore, there exists an opportunity to improve technologies for interpreting selected portions of a user's computer text input as a query for data, performing a web or other search responsive to the query to generate query results, and interpolating the query results into the existing text input without the user having to leave the application in which the text input was entered.